DTO: Light Speed: 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo
Twenty years ago when I worked at a small Porsche repair shop, the advice from mechanic/owner was to try and get into the newest generation 911 you could afford as it offered the best performance and least maintenance per dollar. In the last two decades, the market has twisted to make that advice totally worthless, particularly the rapid ascension of the early 911 prices, a total lack of depreciation in 993 (1993-1998) prices, and rapid drop in watercooled 911 prices. An unexpected result is that the fastest used 911 you can buy is also one of the cheapest…specifically the 996 generation Porsche 911 Turbo. Find this 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo
currently bidding for $29,100 on ebay with less than 1 day to go, located in Salt Lake City, UT.
The 996 generation 911 Turbo was only available in one flavor — fast, four wheel drive and expensive. The 3400 lb coupe started at $111k MSRP before options and could easily edge towards $150k if you selected too many boxes. Today the 996 Turbo is extremely inexpensive probably because potential buyers are afraid of rear main seal issues, intermediate seal failures, cracked blocks and all the other issues that can quickly exceed the purchase price of the car. Thankfully, the nice folks at Pelican Parts have put together a fantastic knowledge base and article about the intermediate seal issue (IMS) and how to fix it. Some commenters have pointed out that the 996 turbo is a different design from the standard Carrera engine, however...internet chatter indicates that these engines can still have the IMS issue and regardless are catastrophically expensive to repair ($34k minus core).
The 996 Turbo is powered by a 3.6 liter flat-6 engine that is turbocharged and intercooled to put out 415 horsepower when stock (ECU programming can quickly push it to 500 horsepower with no other changes). The engine is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox that puts power to all four wheels (all 996 Turbos were all-wheel-drive, except the GT2). The good news is that removing the front differential and converting your turbo to rear-wheel-drive only just a matter of removing parts. Make sure your AAA towing policy is up to date because you might find yourself backwards in a few ditches.
The interior of the 996 generation 911 was a big departure from the previous “classic” 911 setup that put the driver under a large shelf-like dash. The 996 feels/looks like any other car on the inside…a bit too much like the Boxster for many owners tastes!
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Wrong! The 996 TT uses the old 'Metzger' engine that does not suffer from the IMS/RMS problems of the standard first-generation water-cooled Porsche engines.
C'mon guys.
Thanks for the info, I was casually aware that the turbo engine design was "different" but from my quick internet search I did find some people with 996TT RMS/IMS issues. Updated post above.
-EIC Vince
Looks Like those tail lights need Light Savers from rennfix.com 😉
IMS has nothing to do with the cheap price. The _MAJOR ISSUE_ in the accident report is what is scaring off the big money. You'll have a hard time convincing somebody that the high performance AWD system is completely unscathed after any accident, especially one with frame damage, as in this case. Also, the car has a lease/rental record which means you can assume it was flogged good before finally getting stacked-up in an accident.
I always though the 993 was 1995-1998, and the 964 was 1989(C4 only), and 1990-1994.
The internet seems to agree with DT, that the 993 was 1993-1998.
Were there model year 964's and 993's in 1993 & 1994? That would be weird.